FRESHER: Blathnaid Ni Chofaigh starts her first day at college.To mark the season finale of the Late Late Show George Hook, Maria Walsh, Majella O'Donnell & Dermot Bannon compete in a dance-off for charity live

Blathnaid Ni Chofaigh has admitted she can’t see a woman fronting The Late Late Show anytime soon.

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Why Blathnaid Ni Chofaigh can't see a woman hosting the Late Late Show

Independent.ie

Blathnaid Ni Chofaigh has admitted she can’t see a woman fronting The Late Late Show anytime soon.

The TV star reckons the idea of a man fronting the country’s favourite chat show has been so ingrained in people’s minds that a female presenter would be impossible for the foreseeable future.

“I am very pessimistic that that’s going to happen in my time,” she told the Herald.

“Let’s put it this way, it’s not going to happen in the next 20 years. Ryan Tubridy is a young man and he’s not going anywhere.

To mark the season finale of the Late Late Show George Hook, Maria Walsh, Majella O'Donnell & Dermot Bannon compete in a dance-off for charity live

“Fair enough, he’s doing a great job but how do you change a culture of not just RTE, but a state?”

Although she would love to see a woman hosting the show, Blathnaid (45) admitted she has no interest in taking up the job herself.

Blathnaid ni Chofaigh

“I wouldn’t have an interest in the Late Late. I used to watch it and say, ‘Oh I would love to do that.’ I would be far more interested in documentaries.”

The RTE star is mum to Sile (19), Peader (16), Comhghal (14) and Darach (13) and admitted she hopes that none of her kids follow her into showbiz.

“I hope they don’t, I really do. If they wanted to, I would gear them more towards writing or something like that,” she said.

“That’s something I had to work on.

“I was really lucky because when I came in to RTE, we had training courses in television – we don’t really have training courses anymore.”

Speaking at a live broadcast of her radio show Blathnaid Libh, which was awarded Radio Programme of the Year at the Oireachtas Media Awards, Blathnaid said she hopes to see more men taking a step back from their careers to help raise children, as women do.

“It’s mostly women who will take a step back from their careers when they have children, it’s not men. It is unfair.

“It’s not about attacking one gender but if we don’t talk about it, we can’t make it better.

“I find myself saying to my daughter, she’s nearly 20 years of age and I hate saying this, I have to tell her to be careful what career she chooses if she wants a family.

“I don’t have to say that to my three sons. Maybe I should, but I don’t feel I have to,” she said.